~A Shadow~

"My heart aches, for what I had and have now lost: care, affection, pure like the waters of Ji'nan and as carefree as the rolling grasses of Kahal. My heart rises with the east wind yet my eyes will never again bask upon the sunsets of my youth. For the glory of my clan, I shall remain, but my soul departs and leaves naught but an earthly shell."

Oris spread her hands over the words, her fingers tracing every letter in the poem. She couldn't help but smile. "Hermes ancestors were quite romantic."

Andrea glanced around the reading hall and, when she saw that the other ladies weren't paying much attention to them, lowered herself to Oris' side. "Mistress, you can't speak the Emperor's name."

"Yes, it's taboo," Oris whispered back. "It's taboo but you grew up with him, don't tell me that you have never called his name?"

Andrea's face lit up, like a fire had been set beneath the skin of her cheeks. She bowed her head, a conspirational smile growing on her lips. "I called him Seventh Brother. Yes, we grew up together but he was already going to war before I really understood anything. I didn't want to be Empress. He was just my brother. The older brother who brought me sweets when he returned to the capital and helped me with my calligraphy."

"No wonder he was concerned enough to visit me in the dungeons," Oris teased.

Andrea perked up again. "He visited you?"

Oris pulled the girl to sit by her side. "He did, but I didn't see him. He only told me later. Now I know it's because of the relationship you shared in the past that you were willing to do so. You went to beg him, didn't you? Because of you, your father has clearly aligned himself with me. Me? I had no one and now a powerful minister of the court is in my corner... All thanks to you."

Andrea stopped her before she could perform a half bow. "M-Mistress, this joke isn't funny."

"I'm not joking." Oris brushed away the bangs falling over the girl's hazel eyes. "I do not know how your family could bare to sacrifice you like this. Leaving their precious daughter to work hard in the palace."

A tear slid down Andrea's cheek. "I only want to marry someone I like. My wish is too great for my family to bear and they cannot risk the Empress Dowager's wrath. Things are also fine like this. I have sisters now, and even a cute little brother."

She wiped her face and turned to the book in front of Oris. "Mistress, you have been reading history books for hours now. What are you looking for? Maybe I can help."

Oris turned back to the book too, to the poem. "The Emperor's maternal granduncle wrote this after his wife passed away young in childbirth. This king and our Emperor share the same name. It made me wonder what other similarities they shared."

"Oh," Andrea nodded, "The Emperor's maternal granduncle was once the crown prince of Narita but he willingly stepped down and gave his throne to his younger brother, to live in peace with his wife. The wife died giving birth to a son, and this son died later in a war. It is said that he was very kind to his niece, Nian Fey, and treated her as his own daughter, more so than her father. He was one of the many that petitioned repeatedly for her to rule in the place of her younger brother."

Oris nodded and stored the information away for later. "He was a wise man. Kind. Benevolent. Sage. Our Emperor must share these qualities."

She shut the book and opened another. In this, the imperial line was listed. From when the dynasty began in Measma till now with its capital situated in Inae, all the imperial rulers, heirs and children were written down, with vague references to who birthed them.

It wasn't hard to find Hermes in the book. She only had to flip toward the end and there he was, him and twelve other children sired by their father, King Abbadad.

At first, the list looked normal. It began with Prince Savi-Aneez, son of a low ranking Lady Duane, then a few more births and a son by Wei Wei appeared. Oris assumed that this was the second prince since the first had been miscarried. Then another series of births and the daughter-Surin-Lai-appeared, and as though his name had been shoved in there as an afterthought, Hermes name was slated below it with no statement of his origin attached.

Nian Fey having children wasn't mentioned at all but that was understandable. The birth mother birthed the child then 'disappeared' and Hermes seemed to wholeheartedly accept Wei Wei as his mother. The ministers could have curried favor by striking out Nian Fey's name and having Hermes name be listed under Wei Wei's daughter so that it would appear that they were all related.

If Andrea hadn't said what she had earlier, this little omission wouldn't have caught her attention, but the girl said that she called Hermes 'Seventh Brother'. Seventh brother, meaning seventh son, seventh prince, yet there were only six sons on this list.

After flipping through a handful of chronicles and finding them all the same, she finally tugged on Andrea's sleeve. "Why did you call him Seventh Brother?"

Confusion flashed across the girl's face. She shook her head. "He told me to call him that, after a while I got used to it."

"But he's the sixth son?" Oris asked, as though the many books in front of her hadn't confirmed the same thing.

Andrea nodded. "Yes."

Oris stared at the words in front of her. The mystery behind the circumstances of Hermes birth seemed just as murky as her own. "Andrea, hand me the books on censuses."

On her right, was one for Orse. One her left, one for Inae.

She didn't expect to more detailed census report on her State than one compiled by her own ministers but she knew that it couldn't hurt to try.

In both books, she searched for the name Faeradaigh. A surname she had looked for over and over again in reports, memoirs and petitions, only to end up empty handed. A surname so unique that she didn't expect to hear it again until the moment she stood in Eve's place and the Emperor's eunuch appeared in front of her.

They looked nothing alike, the two-faced, scheming Faeradaigh and the two-face Royal Advisor of Orse who she had never seen but seemed to have-in his infinite wisdom-arranged everything for her. All the questions she ever had about her birth always led back to him, but those were where the clues ended.

He had a name but he was like a shadow in the realm of the dead and a ghost in the world of the living. All she had was a portrait her mother drew of him: A graceful and noble man facing the distance on a balcony, with only his silhouette, his hair and the plane of his jaw drawn in detail.

In the book on her right, she found nothing. The name was not recorded anywhere. In the book on her left...

Oris shut it and let out a sigh. "Also nothing."

She closed her eyes and leaned into the chair. This doesn't make sense. Faeradaigh is clearly here, why isn't his name recorded?

"Mistress?" Andrea's fingers came to rest on her temples. "If you are tired, let's go back."

Oris enjoyed the massage in silence, running her hand up and down the spine of the book. "Is it getting dark?"

"It's nearly evening."

"Are there any ladies still here?"

"Most of them have already left. I think we are the only ones still here."

"Alright," Oris took in a deep breath, "let's go back."

"Did Mistress find what you were looking for?"

Oris shook her head. The moment she was on her feet, she fell back into the chair.

"Mistress, you've been sitting for hours, no need to rush."

Hearing the panic in Andrea's voice, she waved her off. "It's nothing, I'm just dizzy."

"This is this servant's fault. So many things happened today, you didn't get the chance to eat properly. From now on, this sort of thing won't happen again. We'll never have to hide the fact that we don't have food from Mistress."

Oris got out of the chair again, steadier this time, and Andrea immediately moved to support her. "I have never blamed you four and even if something like that is to happen again, I will not blame you. Don't call yourself a servant."

Andrea nodded against Oris' arm. "I was wrong."

Oris laughed and patted her on the head. Her gaze drifted to the other tables in the hall. "Let's return these books."

"Mistress, there are servants to do that."

"Servants, not librarians. That is why there were maps in the history section." Oris gathered the books in their table into the crook of her arm. "There aren't that many, let's give them a hand."

It was true that there weren't that many books. Each lady that had been here had brought along two books at most while Oris had six.

After gathering and reorganizing the books in the hall by genre, and keeping them back on the shelves, it was already dark.

Andrea collected a lantern from one of the servants guarding the inner halls and used it to light up the path in front of them. "Mistress, do you feel better?"

"No library should be in disrepair," was all she said.

"Mayree and Keziah must be worried."

"We're heading back now," Oris said softly. "They won't scold us too much."

"I think you are the only master afraid of being scolded by your servants." Hermes emerged from the doorway leading out of the men's reading hall. He was flanked by two ministers and surrounded by servants yet somehow he managed to stand out, even with his robe being the color of the night.

Oris turned around to fully face him and curtsied. "Your Majesty."

His footsteps were sharp against the floorboards. She straightened up and watched him walk to her, carrying the scent of ancient dust and rose water.

"The Lady of Inqa," he said, almost as though he was teasing her, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"This servant has nothing to do. The library is as good a place as any to while away time."

Now, his gaze drifted to Andrea. "Few stay back here past sunset."

"They fear the dark while I do not." Oris inclined her head so that she had the ministers in her line of sight. "Your Majesty is here after all."

"Yes, I-" He pointed to her hand. News of her latest clash with the Empress Dowager probably hadn't reached him yet. "What happened?"

"It is only a little bruise, nothing for Your Majesty to worry about."

Hermes grabbed her hand with enough force to pull her close with only an inch of space between them. Oris winced.

"Are you going to pretend that it isn't painful?" he whispered by her ear.

Behind him, Oris saw the ministers begin to fret. "It was properly treated by the physician you granted to me, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty this. Your Majesty that. I thought I told you not to say it anymore."

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you... sire?" she whispered back. "You want your ministers to see us looking intimate like this. Why?"

Now, he put a step between them. "If it isn't inconvenient for you, I would like you to walk with me."

He dismissed the servants with a wave of his hand and to his ministers, said, "That is all for today."

He led the way to the exit without waiting for a reply and Oris and Andrea followed behind him.

"Actually, what I want to say won't take much of your time," he said, the moment they got out of the library. "I'm sure you have had your speculations about the next test. I only want to tell that apart from the treasure hunt in the East palace's imperial gardens, the hunting grounds will be used."

~

Look at that, Hermes is volunteering information. They're going on a waaalk. His mother's uncle was named Hermes, and she named him after the guy. Hyphenated names are popular in Inae but contrary to tradition, Nian Fey named Hermes instead of letting her husband do so. Wei Wei's surviving daughter (and only known child) has an hyphenated name. 'Mikeal' is the name Wei Wei gave her son, following Nian Fey's example.

Then there's Faeradaigh. A Faeradaigh in Orse who Oris suspects has all the answers she wants, and a Faeradaigh in Inae who acts shrewd and also seems pretty harmless.